Pacific Salmon Data Portal

Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) is seeking your input to guide the development of the Pacific Salmon Data Portal, which is being built as part of the Pacific Salmon Strategy Initiative (PSSI). Whether you work in the field or are simply interested in the current and historical status of Pacific salmon, we'd like to hear from you.

(Click on the tabs below to read more about the Pacific Salmon Data Portal)


Current State

Challenges

Over the years, DFO has received feedback highlighting concerns about our data transparency and accessibility. These concerns have revolved around several key points:

  • the complexity associated with interpreting information on existing platforms such as Open Government
  • challenges accessing timely and pertinent Pacific salmon data
  • struggles encountered in integrating disparate datasets

We recognize that these challenges make it more difficult for communities, researchers, and the public to participate in the conservation and restoration of Pacific salmon. To address these issues and reinforce our commitment to improvement, we are dedicated to enhancing our data accessibility and transparency.

Enabling Partners

To respond to these challenges and concerns, PSSI has invested in upgrading the Pacific salmon data ecosystem. While we work to improve our data management, the Pacific Salmon Data Portal will allow us to share information that will enable our partners to more easily and efficiently perform valuable conservation and restoration work in the region.

DFO scientists tag salmon in river.

This campaign provides you the opportunity to give feedback to the project team to ensure the portal meets the needs of those in the Pacific salmon community. Please share your thoughts by completing the survey below on how the Pacific Salmon Data Portal can improve data accessibility and enable your conservation and restoration work. You can also submit your ideas for the portal using the ideas tab; these will be published publicly where other users can upvote and reply to them.

Navigate to the second tab to learn more about how the Pacific Salmon Data Portal will solve existing data challenges and enable our partners’ work.

Pacific Salmon Data Portal

The Pacific Salmon Data Portal will be a web-based application that showcases data and information which will support Pacific salmon conservation and restoration activities in B.C. and the Yukon. By creating a public, user-centric source for Pacific salmon data we hope to improve the findability and accessibility of data resources. The portal will be designed based on the needs of its users, ensuring it adapts to feedback received before and after launch.

What You Can Expect

Animation showing a computer display, a text box and a person using a computer. The display shows an illustrated bar chart, map, line graph and search bar.

In order to make data more accessible, the portal will contain a series of data visualizations that present data in an interactive way. Each one will feature data that is verified for accuracy and will enable users to explore this data with built-in analysis tools. These will include interactive charts, maps, and graphs that will allow users without advanced data analysis skills to find insights and learn more about Pacific salmon. The portal will also give highly technical users the ability to export or connect to the underlying datasets with your own preferred analysis tools. These dashboards intend to make Pacific salmon data more accessible and transparent to all Canadians.

Consistent Measurement Standards

Whether you are a research biologist, a steward of salmon habitat, or just interested in Pacific salmon, we want to help you access and integrate different sources of Pacific salmon information. Within DFO we use a variety of measurement and reporting scales to explore salmon data which can make using different data sets together difficult. Interoperability, or the ability to use data in multiple applications, is important to gaining insights from data, and our goal is to ensure that all data displayed and shared on the portal can be compared across different levels of granularity. We will achieve this by developing common standards across levels and making the metadata available.

Salmon Population Units

Pacific salmon represent an incredibly diverse species in terms of their ecology, appearance, and behavior. They are the most ecologically diverse vertebrate species in Canada, with many thousands of distinctive “populations”. Combining these populations into larger genetically-diverse groups serves as a useful management and research tool.

For instance, the Wild Salmon Policy (WSP) introduced the concept of “Conservation Units”, or CUs, which serve as both fundamental units of biodiversity and the accounting units for documenting progress in achieving WSP goals.

Meanwhile, revisions to the Fishery Act related to fisheries required the use of “Stock Management Units”, or SMUs, which are a group of one or more CUs that are managed together with the objective of achieving an aggregate for harvest planning and reporting purposes.

Another standard is “Designatable Units”, or DUs. These were developed by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) and are primarily used in work related to the Species at Risk Act. These aim to group salmon stock with similar genetic and evolutionary traits. Unlike CUs and SMUs, DFO is not responsible for the development of these standards, and they are not yet defined for all salmon species. However, they often are aligned with existing CUs.

The interactive image above shows CUs and SMUs for coho in the South Coast Area region. Compare these by moving the slider to the right to see CUs and to the left to see SMUs.

One of the key outcomes we hope to achieve with the Pacific Salmon Data Portal is to make key Pacific salmon data interoperable for analysis and reporting at a common scale. While Pacific salmon population units hold significance in salmon conservation, we recognize that they are not the sole standard we need to adopt. We’re open to considering other essential measurement units, standards, and ways to improve interoperability.

Your input on how our data can be standardized to best align with your work is highly valued. Please take a moment to share your feedback in the survey provided below. Alternatively, you can share your ideas in the ideas tab; these will be published publicly where other users will be able to upvote and reply to them.

Call to Action

Why We Need Your Input

We are seeking your input to create a portal which meets the needs of the Canadian public, Indigenous groups, and stakeholders. By contributing to this campaign through one of the channels described below, you will provide valuable feedback which will guide the development of the portal. We hope to learn more about your data needs and what tools and features you would like to see integrated into the portal to ensure you can make the most out of the data available. Please fill out the survey below to contribute to this exciting project.

How We Will Use Your Input

Following the completion of this campaign, we will publish a “What We Heard” report summarizing our findings. The feedback received through the campaign will directly affect how we prioritize which data and features will be implemented on the portal, both at our initial launch, and on an ongoing basis.


Icons showing a person with microphone, head with lightbulb, 3 people commenting, and a thumbs up in a comment box.

Opportunities for Engagement

Survey

The survey will ask a range of questions about what content and features you would like to see included in the Pacific Salmon Data Portal. It should take 5 to 10 minutes to complete.

Ideas

You can share your ideas for the Pacific Salmon Data Portal in the “Ideas” tab or upvote and reply to other users’ submissions.

Data stories

The “data stories” tab allows you to share stories about how you use Pacific salmon data. Your submission will be visible to the public, but you can choose whether or not to allow user comments.

Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) is seeking your input to guide the development of the Pacific Salmon Data Portal, which is being built as part of the Pacific Salmon Strategy Initiative (PSSI). Whether you work in the field or are simply interested in the current and historical status of Pacific salmon, we'd like to hear from you.

(Click on the tabs below to read more about the Pacific Salmon Data Portal)


Current State

Challenges

Over the years, DFO has received feedback highlighting concerns about our data transparency and accessibility. These concerns have revolved around several key points:

  • the complexity associated with interpreting information on existing platforms such as Open Government
  • challenges accessing timely and pertinent Pacific salmon data
  • struggles encountered in integrating disparate datasets

We recognize that these challenges make it more difficult for communities, researchers, and the public to participate in the conservation and restoration of Pacific salmon. To address these issues and reinforce our commitment to improvement, we are dedicated to enhancing our data accessibility and transparency.

Enabling Partners

To respond to these challenges and concerns, PSSI has invested in upgrading the Pacific salmon data ecosystem. While we work to improve our data management, the Pacific Salmon Data Portal will allow us to share information that will enable our partners to more easily and efficiently perform valuable conservation and restoration work in the region.

DFO scientists tag salmon in river.

This campaign provides you the opportunity to give feedback to the project team to ensure the portal meets the needs of those in the Pacific salmon community. Please share your thoughts by completing the survey below on how the Pacific Salmon Data Portal can improve data accessibility and enable your conservation and restoration work. You can also submit your ideas for the portal using the ideas tab; these will be published publicly where other users can upvote and reply to them.

Navigate to the second tab to learn more about how the Pacific Salmon Data Portal will solve existing data challenges and enable our partners’ work.

Pacific Salmon Data Portal

The Pacific Salmon Data Portal will be a web-based application that showcases data and information which will support Pacific salmon conservation and restoration activities in B.C. and the Yukon. By creating a public, user-centric source for Pacific salmon data we hope to improve the findability and accessibility of data resources. The portal will be designed based on the needs of its users, ensuring it adapts to feedback received before and after launch.

What You Can Expect

Animation showing a computer display, a text box and a person using a computer. The display shows an illustrated bar chart, map, line graph and search bar.

In order to make data more accessible, the portal will contain a series of data visualizations that present data in an interactive way. Each one will feature data that is verified for accuracy and will enable users to explore this data with built-in analysis tools. These will include interactive charts, maps, and graphs that will allow users without advanced data analysis skills to find insights and learn more about Pacific salmon. The portal will also give highly technical users the ability to export or connect to the underlying datasets with your own preferred analysis tools. These dashboards intend to make Pacific salmon data more accessible and transparent to all Canadians.

Consistent Measurement Standards

Whether you are a research biologist, a steward of salmon habitat, or just interested in Pacific salmon, we want to help you access and integrate different sources of Pacific salmon information. Within DFO we use a variety of measurement and reporting scales to explore salmon data which can make using different data sets together difficult. Interoperability, or the ability to use data in multiple applications, is important to gaining insights from data, and our goal is to ensure that all data displayed and shared on the portal can be compared across different levels of granularity. We will achieve this by developing common standards across levels and making the metadata available.

Salmon Population Units

Pacific salmon represent an incredibly diverse species in terms of their ecology, appearance, and behavior. They are the most ecologically diverse vertebrate species in Canada, with many thousands of distinctive “populations”. Combining these populations into larger genetically-diverse groups serves as a useful management and research tool.

For instance, the Wild Salmon Policy (WSP) introduced the concept of “Conservation Units”, or CUs, which serve as both fundamental units of biodiversity and the accounting units for documenting progress in achieving WSP goals.

Meanwhile, revisions to the Fishery Act related to fisheries required the use of “Stock Management Units”, or SMUs, which are a group of one or more CUs that are managed together with the objective of achieving an aggregate for harvest planning and reporting purposes.

Another standard is “Designatable Units”, or DUs. These were developed by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) and are primarily used in work related to the Species at Risk Act. These aim to group salmon stock with similar genetic and evolutionary traits. Unlike CUs and SMUs, DFO is not responsible for the development of these standards, and they are not yet defined for all salmon species. However, they often are aligned with existing CUs.

The interactive image above shows CUs and SMUs for coho in the South Coast Area region. Compare these by moving the slider to the right to see CUs and to the left to see SMUs.

One of the key outcomes we hope to achieve with the Pacific Salmon Data Portal is to make key Pacific salmon data interoperable for analysis and reporting at a common scale. While Pacific salmon population units hold significance in salmon conservation, we recognize that they are not the sole standard we need to adopt. We’re open to considering other essential measurement units, standards, and ways to improve interoperability.

Your input on how our data can be standardized to best align with your work is highly valued. Please take a moment to share your feedback in the survey provided below. Alternatively, you can share your ideas in the ideas tab; these will be published publicly where other users will be able to upvote and reply to them.

Call to Action

Why We Need Your Input

We are seeking your input to create a portal which meets the needs of the Canadian public, Indigenous groups, and stakeholders. By contributing to this campaign through one of the channels described below, you will provide valuable feedback which will guide the development of the portal. We hope to learn more about your data needs and what tools and features you would like to see integrated into the portal to ensure you can make the most out of the data available. Please fill out the survey below to contribute to this exciting project.

How We Will Use Your Input

Following the completion of this campaign, we will publish a “What We Heard” report summarizing our findings. The feedback received through the campaign will directly affect how we prioritize which data and features will be implemented on the portal, both at our initial launch, and on an ongoing basis.


Icons showing a person with microphone, head with lightbulb, 3 people commenting, and a thumbs up in a comment box.

Opportunities for Engagement

Survey

The survey will ask a range of questions about what content and features you would like to see included in the Pacific Salmon Data Portal. It should take 5 to 10 minutes to complete.

Ideas

You can share your ideas for the Pacific Salmon Data Portal in the “Ideas” tab or upvote and reply to other users’ submissions.

Data stories

The “data stories” tab allows you to share stories about how you use Pacific salmon data. Your submission will be visible to the public, but you can choose whether or not to allow user comments.

  • CLOSED: This survey has concluded.

    Data Portal Survey

    A range of questions about what content and features you would like to see included in the Pacific Salmon Data Portal. It should take 5 to 10 minutes to complete.